Kentucky Derby 2020 Winner: Analysis, Race Highlights from Authentic's Victory

The 2020 Kentucky Derby was historic in many ways, and still, it provided plenty of excitement in familiar fashion.

There weren't fans in the stands at Churchill Downs on Saturday, the first of September. The Derby may have been postponed by four months due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it proved to be worth the wait. In the end, Authentic claimed the victory, holding off Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law and denying his unorthodox Triple Crown bid.

Authentic's win was the sixth Kentucky Derby victory for longtime trainer Bob Baffert, who tied the record held by Ben Jones. Entering the race, Authentic had 8-1 odds, which ranked third among the 15 horses in the field. Tiz the Law (the favorite at 3-5) finished second, 46-1 longshot Mr. Big News placed third and Honor A. P. (who had the second-best odds at 7-1) came in fourth.

However, it was Authentic's race the entire way. Starting in the No. 18 post all the way to the right side, he got off to a great start, quickly moving his way into the lead entering the first turn ahead of Storm the Court, Ny Traffic and Tiz the Law.

Down the backstretch, Authentic continued to lead. But Tiz the Law has been known to make late surges, and that's exactly what he did in the final turn of Saturday's race.

Tiz the Law pulled up alongside Authentic, setting up a thrilling final stretch. Although it was a situation that has typically led to Tiz the Law racing to victory (like he did at the Belmont), that didn't happen this time. Authentic held him off and pulled away with a final surge himself to win this year's Kentucky Derby in a time of 2 minutes, 0.61 seconds.

Here's how the full race unfolded, via NBC Sports on Twitter:

It may have been Baffert's sixth Derby victory, but the longtime trainer was quick to praise Authentic's jockey, John Velazquez, who became a three-time Kentucky Derby winner. Velazquez previously won with Animal Kingdom in 2011 and Always Dreaming in 2017.

"I’ve had some great Derby rides, but what that guy did," Baffert said, according to Beth Harris of the Associated Press. "Johnny V. gave him an incredible ride."

With Authentic's win, it marked the first time that Tiz the Law didn't win in 2020 as he had been victorious in his previous four races this year. And after two horses had claimed the Triple Crown in the previous five years (American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018), it won't happen again this year.

Still, even though Tiz the Law ended up second, he had another strong showing. Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable, which owns Tiz the Law, was pleased with what he saw during the race.

"Tiz has been able to pass horses all year and today he ran into one he couldn't get by,'' Knowlton said, according to ESPN. "Credit Authentic. He came from the far outside and managed to get to the lead and just ran a great race. No shame on our part.''

Now that the Kentucky Derby is over, the focus will shift to the Preakness Stakes on Oct. 3 for some of the horses in this field. And even though there won't be a Triple Crown on the line, it could still bring action as exciting as what we saw transpire at Churchill Downs on Saturday.